The Step-Mother: Act the First: Scene I
PHI. Now, by my troth, a woman of the townScarce ever finds a faithful lover, Syra.This very Pamphilus, how many timesHe swore to Bacchis, swore so solemnlyOne could not but believe him, that he neverWould, in her lifetime, marry. See! he's married.
SYRA. I warn you, therefore, and most earnestlyConjure you, to have pity upon none.But plunder, fleece, and beggar ev'ry manThat falls into your pow'r.PHI. What! spare none?
SYRA. None.For know, there is not one of all your sparksBut studies to cajole you with fine speeches,And have his will as cheaply as he can.Should not you, then, endeavor to fool them?
PHI. But to treat all alike is wrong.
SYRA. What! wrong?To be reveng'd upon your enemies?Or to snare those who spread their snares for you?--Alas! why have not I your youth and beauty,Or you my sentiments?
Words in this poem
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- lifetime n.
- The time that life continues.
- conjure v. t.
- To call on or summon by a sacred name or in solemn manner; to implore earnestly; to adjure. [F. conjurer, fr. L. conjurare to swear together, to conspire; con- + jurare to swear. See Jury.]
- cheaply adv.
- At a small price; at a low value; in a common or inferior manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Step-Mother: Act the First: Scene I is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Comedies of Terence, Project Gutenberg ebook #22695; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Terence, The Step-Mother: Act the First: Scene I, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-step-mother-act-the-first-scene-i.html, id L25857.
Form and metre
The Step-Mother: Act the First: Scene I is 22 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 2 -A--A earnestly · noneA · man · pow'r · noneA
- 3 A--A- noneA · sparks · speeches · canA · them
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| PHI. Now, by my troth, a woman of the town | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Scarce ever finds a faithful lover, Syra. | 10 | ·/··/˘/˘·· |
| This very Pamphilus, how many times | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| He swore to Bacchis, swore so solemnly | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| One could not but believe him, that he never | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Would, in her lifetime, marry. See! he's married. | 11 | ···/·/˘··/˘ |
| SYRA. I warn you, therefore, and most earnestly | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Conjure you, to have pity upon none. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| But plunder, fleece, and beggar ev'ry man | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That falls into your pow'r. | 6 | ······ |
| PHI. What! spare none? | 4 | ···· |
| SYRA. None. | 3 | ··· |
| For know, there is not one of all your sparks | 10 | ·········· |
| But studies to cajole you with fine speeches, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/···/˘ |
| And have his will as cheaply as he can. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Should not you, then, endeavor to fool them? | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| PHI. But to treat all alike is wrong. | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| SYRA. What! wrong? | 4 | ···· |
| To be reveng'd upon your enemies? | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Or to snare those who spread their snares for you? | 10 | ·········· |
| --Alas! why have not I your youth and beauty, | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| Or you my sentiments? | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.